"Unknown in the Islands until missionaries introduced a drab forerunner to cover 'heathen nakedness'--which the irrepressible Hawaiians soon decoratred with hand-printined geometric motifs from the traditional tapa cloth--the genuine Hawaiian shirt is now regarded as a work of art and avidly sought out by collectors. When tourism came to Hawaii in the late 1920s, these unusual shirts were among the first things that visitors had to have. Local designers and tailors worked quickly to meet the demand and began to expand the range of decoration to include palm trees and romantic beaches, tropical jungles and volcanoes, exotic flowers and scenes from Polynesian legend. The Hawaiian shirt had been born."